Of Men, Gods and Pokémon
by BlueJackal82
Summary: Two Pokémon trainers journey across the Johto region and discover more about themselves as well as the tragedy of a forgotten land. What is the connection between them, the land of Sinnoh and the Azure flute?
1. Chapter 1

**_Of Men, Gods and Pokémon_**

By BlueJackal82 & Ayanna Wildfire

 _Disclaimer:_  
This is a non-profit work of fiction. I do not own Pokémon and all characters and creatures are owned by Nintendo, Nintendo of America, Game Freak and respective companies. All original characters seen in this story are owned by myself and Ayanna Wildfire respectively.

 _Author's Notes:_ _  
_This is a storyline I had in my head for a few years and I am very glad to finally get it out there. I'm hoping you enjoy this and I want to thank my friend Ayanna Wildfire for all her help with this story thus far.

 **Chapter 1**

Two opponents stood on opposite ends of the battlefield, a boy versus a girl and both down to their last Pokémon. It was the look in their eyes that told them that this was it. They had both come so far and were not willing to let their journeys through the HOENN region end here.

"RIO, use AURA SPHERE!" shouted the boy named Joshua Prowler as a strange blue energy began to surround the canine warrior Pokémon.

"...Extreme Speed." stated Joshua's opponent, a girl in Lolita clothing named Marley.

In nearly the blink of an eye, her Arcanine was directly in front of Lucario's face. Neither Joshua nor Lucario had time to react before the girl uttered her next words;

"Fire Blast."

A loud roar escaped her fiery dog-like Pokémon's mouth as a ball of flame erupted and hit Joshua's partner.

Lucario's eyes went wide as he sailed across the field before hitting the ground, hard and finally coming to a halt against the wall of the stadium, unconscious.

"Lucario is unable to battle! The winner...is MARLEY!" shouted the referee as the stadium in Ever Grande City erupted with cheers from all those who witnessed this grueling match.

Joshua ran over to his fallen partner and placed his hand behind Lucario's head.

"You did good, Rio. You did really good."

The blue canine Pokémon blinked a bit before giving a weak smile.

Marley congratulated her Arcanine by rubbing the fire-type's head before she looked toward Joshua. He looked back at her and nodded a bit but returned his attention back to Lucario.

"Can you make it to you feet, buddy?" He asked as Marley made her way over to Joshua. Lucario placed his arm around Joshua to help him keep his balance when they both noticed Marley extending her hand.

"That was a really good match." She said, looking for a handshake. Joshua slowly took her hand into his but the look in his eyes clearly showed that he was upset; mainly with just himself.

"You're really strong. You sort of remind me of another strong trainer I met not too long ago…" she stated. "I believe his name was Prowler too."

Both Joshua and Lucario stared at Marley after hearing that. "What?! When was this? Did you actually see my brother?" he asked, nearly screaming his questions at her.

"Oww!"

Joshua looked at his hands and realized that Marley's hand was still in his, but he was squeezing hers extremely hard.

"Sorry!" he exclaimed, as he finally let go, allowing Marley to rub her hand to try and ease the pain. "I didn't mean to do that, it's just that…my brother has been missing for a long time."

"Alright, just know that your grip is as strong as your battle style." She quipped as Lucario grinned at her little joke.

Joshua only half smirked.

"Well, it was about a month ago when I saw him. He told me that if I ever saw you, to tell you this... _'Stop trying to find him'_."

He looked up at this girl, complete shock and surprised taking over him as Joshua tried to find the words.

"What do you mean?"

Marley went on to explain that she met Joshua's brother in the forest one day and how he was on a quest to become the strongest Pokémon trainer.

"If that really was your brother, then you have nothing to worry about. He's more than fine." stated Marley.

"You—you don't understand. He was here. He was here!" shouted Joshua as Lucario suddenly placed a paw on his shoulder. Joshua looked over to his partner before turning away and taking a breath. "You have to tell me where it was you saw him."

"That's the thing, he may have already left this region." Replied Marley.

"Huh?"

"Well, after he showed me just how strong he was, he mentioned visiting every region he could and that his next stop might be Sinnoh."

"Sinnoh?" Joshua questioned more to himself than anyone.

"There was one other thing…" Marley started as Joshua looked back at her. "He said, he didn't want anyone to follow him down this path. I didn't understand what he meant but he could have been talking about you."

As Marley left, Joshua began to question if what she said was true. Was it actually possible his brother didn't WANT him to find him? The boy finally took off with Lucario to the Pokémon Center and even though his friends tried to cheer him up and support him, all he could think about was his own inability to help anyone. He noted how hurt Lucario was due to his own weakness and how he couldn't help or apparently need to help his lost brother.

As night fell over the area and the crowds departed long after the new league Champion was named, a beautiful brunette by the name of Layla Daylin sat by Joshua's side as he slept in his chair inside the Pokémon Center. The two waited most of the day as their Pokémon healed, and found themselves staying in the Center for the next the day.

"Even after all this time, you still don't know how strong you really are. You don't know how strong you made me." She stated as her Misdreavus floated over to her.

"Misdreavus?" the ghost-type Pokémon questioned as it looked from Layla to Joshua.

"He's alright, just a little down on himself for not getting further in the tournament." Stated Layla. "But he was amazing…I just wish he understood that."

"Dreavus." Replied the little ghost-type and it rubbed against Layla to cheer her up.

"Aww, thank you! But let's get some rest so we can help cheer him up in the morning." Suggested Layla as her Misdreavus happily agreed.

Layla pulled Misdreavus close to her and began to pass out. After a few minutes passed, Joshua opened his eyes and stared at her. Quietly, he woke up Lucario and clipped his pokéballs to his belt and grabbed his bag. He began to head to the door before looking back at Layla. Quickly, he took a pen and paper out to leave the girl and long-time travel companion a note. He left it in his chair and once again headed for the door. As he opened it, he muttered lowly to himself; "I'm sorry," before closing the door.

As he did, a gust of wind blew through and caused the note to float away and out of sight. Even if he knew that Layla would never find out what happened to him the next morning, it wouldn't change his mind. He knew where his brother was going…

He wasn't about to lose him again.

 ** _5 YEARS LATER_**

It's a beautiful day in Violet City as a young boy stood outside the first gym in Johto which belongs to Falkner, Violet City's Flying Type Gym leader. The boy wore a gray colored jacket over a black shirt with the Pokémon symbol over his heart, along with black pants that had orange stripes running down the sides of them.

His name is Robbie Campo and he is a rookie Pokémon trainer with two new Pokémon: Totodile and Spearow, whom he caught after emerging from the last route.

"Let's get you guys healed up." He stated to the pokéball in his hand which contained the Pokémon beside him.

Totodile happily jumped onto Robbie's head, however, he slid down a bit too far and covered the young trainer's eye.

"Hey, cut it out Totodile! I can't seeeeeee…"

Before anyone else knew what was happening, Robbie and the small water Pokémon, found themselves crashing into 'something' then falling to the ground with a loud 'thud'. However, Totodile used his abilities to slow his descent and land quite gracefully. He even did a small bow before grinning to his trainer.

"Show off." Grumbled Robbie as he rubbed his bum as Totodile laughed.

"Oww…" came another voice as Robbie noticed another young boy around his age, also on the ground. The boy had sandy-blond hair, wore a red and black short sleeved jacket with matching sneakers, and white jeans. He had a brown book-bag on the ground beside him as three pokéballs rolled out.

"Oh man, I'm really sorry about that." Stated Robbie as he reached over to help pick up one of the boy's pokéballs off the ground, "My Totodile was just play-"

Before Robbie could even finish his sentence, the boy's arm reached out and prevented Robbie for helping him.

"Do not touch them." He stated with a sneer.

"Sorry, I was just trying to help." Replied Robbie as Totodile gave the stranger with a questioning look.

"You have helped quite enough."

"You don't have to be a jerk about it. I said I was sorry."

"And yet the damage has been done." said the boy before finally picking himself up and dusting himself off. "I have been…delayed."

Robbie finally picked himself off the ground as well before asking what he meant by that.

"It is none of your concern."

The boy began to pick up his pokéballs and wipe them off. Once he was done, he looked back to Robbie with an almost…uninterested glare in his eyes.

"What? What?" asked Robbie as the boy then looked beyond him, to the Violet City's gym.

"You plan on taking the Pokémon League challenge?"

"Of course! I am a Pokémon trainer. Isn't that what you're doing?"

The boy with the blond-hair didn't answer for a moment as he returned his gaze back to Robbie.

"The Gym Leader uses flying types. …He was no trouble for me." He finally stated before placing his Pokeballs back into his back and heading off.

"H-Hey…what's your name anyway?!" asked Robbie as the boy stopped dead in his tracks and raised a single finger to the air.

"The name, is Artem Vincent. I am the one who is destined to reach the heavens…and beyond. Remember my name…"

And with that, the boy headed off.

"…Okay, that guy is weird." Stated Robbie as Totodile gave a little grunt. "Well…how's about we finally get you healed, buddy?"

Totodile looked up at Robbie and grinned before the small water-type was placed inside his pokéball, as Robbie headed off into the Poke-center. After some time, the nurse working at the center returned Robbie's Pokémon to him.

"Here you go and I wish you a safe journey." stated the nurse as she smiled toward the young trainer.

"Thank you very much."

Robbie then placed the pokéball containing Spearow back into his bag, while he tapped the button on Totodile's ball, releasing the type water-type.

"Alright, now it's onward to our first gym battle!" declared Robbie, as the two took off and toward Violet City's Pokémon Gym.

As Robbie and Totodile entered the gym, they noticed that it was quite bare save for a single man standing in the middle of the room. The man looked to be about middle-aged and wore a tan shirt with brown pants held up with spenders.

"Hi there, champ-in-the-making." stated the strange man.

"Um, would you be the gym leader here?" questioned Robbie as the man grinned at that.

"Oh no, I'm just going to be the referee for your match. You are here to challenge Falkner, correct?"

"Um, yeah…but…"

Robbie looked around again then back to the referee. "Where is he?"

"Above you."

"Huh?" wondered Robbie out loud as he and Totodile looked up, just as the referee suddenly pulled out a small remote.

He pressed the button and the very spot where Robbie and Totodile happened to be standing suddenly launched into the air with such speed, that the two of them barely had time to process what was happening.

When they stopped, Totodile was clutching Robbie's leg…whom the owner of happened to be frozen solid. When they finally came to, they were greeted with a view of a brightly lit room and saw a crisscrossing walkway with a man standing at the end of it with his back to them.

"So, you're finally ready to challenge me, trainer?" stated the man as he turned to face them. He had blue hair, a sky blue shirt with white buttons on it, a blue undershirt, a white belt, indigo shorts, black socks and shoes, and black wristbands with red outlines.

"I'm Falkner, the Violet Pokémon Gym leader!" he stated as Robbie grinned.

"My name's Robbie Campo! I'm a new trainer but I plan on showing the world just what I can do."

"Well, with the power of my magnificent flying-types, I'll be more than happy to lesson on just how hard the world can be!" responded Falkner, as both he and Robbie produced pokéballs in their hands, signaling that both young trainers were ready to battle.

Suddenly, the referee appeared behind Robbie.

"This shall be a two-on-two battle between the challenger and Falkner, the gym leader. Only the challenger may exchange Pokémon during the match. If both of you are ready..." started the older man as he looked at the two. "...And BEGIN!" he yelled as both trainers threw out the first pokéball.

"Go PIDGEY!" cried Falkner.

"Go SPEAROW!" responded Robbie.

The two flying-type Pokémon emerged from their pokéballs and quickly found themselves glaring at each other.

"Pidgey, use TACKLE!" stated the gym leader as his tiny-bird Pokémon lunged at its opponent.

"Dodge it and use LEER!" commanded Robbie and Falkner's Pokémon just missed Spearow, who jumped in the air and landed behind it. Spearow then glared hard at the Pidgey, which caused it to slow down a bit.

"Pidgey, use SAND-ATTACK!" said Falkner as the small bird kicked up dust from the ground and hit Robbie's Spearow right in the eyes, lowering its accuracy.

"Quick, use PECK!" yelled Robbie, but Spearow missed its mark and crashed to the ground.

"Use Gust, Pidgey and finish it!" yelled Falkner as his Pidgey began to kick up wind.

Suddenly, Spearow growled at the other Pokémon, causing it to lose concentration. This made Robbie grin from ear-to-ear.

"Awesome Spearow! Now, use FURY-ATTACK!"

Spearow ran quickly toward it's opponent and hit it three times with it's beak. Pidgey groaned before falling to the ground, defeated.

"Pidgey is unable to battle! Spearow is the winner!" declared the referee.

"Yeah! Way to go, Spearow!" cheered Robbie as his Pokémon spread it's wings and cried in triumph.

"You fight well for a rookie, but let's see how you do against this! Pidgeotto, take flight!"

"Whoa, that's a powerful looking Pokémon." stated Robbie and Falkner smiled back at his statement.

"You're about to see just how powerful it is. The wind is finally with us! Pidgeotto, use GUST!"

"PIDGEOOOO!" cried his powerful flying Pokémon as the winds made from it's awesome wings sent the once proud Spearow crashing to the wall and knocking it out cold.

"Spearow is unable to battle! Pidgeotto is the winner!" said the referee as Falkner congratulated his Pokémon. "Well done. Well done!"

"Thank you Spearow." said Robbie as he clicked the button on Spearow's pokéball and recalled it. While the energy beam hit his flying Pokémon, the young trainer took a deep breath and looked to his Totodile, who was more than ready to take Spearow's place.

"Alright buddy, it's show time!"

"TOTO...DILE!" yelled the little blue water Pokémon as he jumped in front of Falkner's Pidgeotto.

"Hmm. A water-Pokémon, interesting...BUT IT WON'T HELP YOU!" cried Falkner as he ordered his Pidgeotto to attack using tackle.

It hit, hard and fast, sending Totodile to the ground hard. Robbie could tell it was a critical hit.

"That's not going to stop us, right Totodile?" cheered Robbie as his water-Pokémon got back to its feet and smiled.

"That's it! Now...use WATER GUN!" shouted the young trainer. His Totodile's aim was true and it hurled the flying-type to the floor of the room, completely matted.

"Nice! We got this, right Totodile?"

Falkner grinned as Robbie said that.

"ROOST." was all the gym-leader said as his Pidgeotto suddenly let loose with a loud yell and spread its wings wide. A few feathers suddenly began to dance around its body as he quickly regained it's strength.

"We can still fly!" yelled Falkner as his Pidgeotto was fully recovered.

"Oh, that's just not fair." stated Robbie as Totodile was also, not amused.

"You have a lot to learn, rookie. Pidgeotto, use GUST one more time!"

The wings of Falkner's Pidgeotto spread wide once more from the ground and tried to use the winds to blow Totodile away, but the little blue water-type stood strong.

"Totodile, move in close and wait till I give you the signal!" stated Robbie.

Totodile moved ever so closer to his target as the winds continued to hit him, but eventually, he was almost close enough to touch it.

"Now, use BITE!" yelled the rookie trainer as Falkner yelled for his Pidgeotto to dodge.

The flying-type quickly took to the air, but the teeth of the big-jaw Pokémon clamped down on it's tail. Pidgeotto cried out as Totodile grinned at the situation.

"What?! Pidgeotto, lose that Pokémon!"

As hard as it might, Pidgeotto simply could not cause Totodile to let go, no matter how many laps it did around the gym. Finally, it gave up and landed, tried.

"Now, WATER-GUN!" said Robbie as Totodile once again smiled to his opponent and let loose with a large stream of water from its mouth, directly into Pidgeotto's face.

"Oh no!" cried Falkner, but he already knew what was to come next as his Pidgeotto crashed against the wall due to the force of Totodile's water-gun attack.

"Pidgeotto is unable to battle and that means, the challenger and his Totodile are the winners!" cried the referee and Robbie held Totodile in his arms.

"Great job buddy, we did it!" said Robbie as the two jumped up and down, happy over their hard-fought victory.

"You fought hard, trainer...and a defeat is still a defeat." stated Falkner as he handed Robbie a small medal. "All right. Take this, the Zephyr Badge. With that badge, you have taken your first real step to going to the Pokémon League."

Robbie held the badge proudly in his hands hugged Totodile. "Thanks buddy, and thank you too Falkner."

The Gym Leader nodded. "There are other Pokémon Gyms in other cities and towns ahead. You should test your skills at these Gyms. As for your next move...I would suggest Azalea Town. I'm going to train harder to become the greatest Bird Keeper of all!"

"And I will train harder too. Thank you again!" stated Robbie as Totodile jumped on his head and the two left the Violet City's Pokémon Gym both more confident than ever in their abilities while continuing on their journey.

Just outside the Ilex Forest, a young trainer continued to break down her camp site before getting ready to head off and continue her adventure. She gave a small laugh at the thought that her life was an adventure now, though more so than she ever would originally conceive.

"…If only I didn't hear Uncle Jarlan," sighed Kimi while she finished taking down her tent, "Then I wouldn't have to worry about him…or the twins."

Quietly, a small Chikorita moved toward its trainer and butted her head against the girl.

"Chika." It said, trying to give the girl what comfort it could.

"I know, I'm feeling sorry for myself again." Kimi said softly, "I can't help it. I don't think I'm strong enough to make a name for myself just yet."

"Chikaaaa," the Pokémon replied as it tried to comfort its trainer again. "Chika..."

"One of these days, I'm sure I'll figure it out..." Kimi replied with a soft smile. "Still…thank you Chikorita."

The young trainer then began collecting her things from the camp she'd made the night before. As she did so, she spotted the case that held all the badges she'd won prior to coming to this region. She dropped what she was doing and moved over to the case, smiling as she opened it. Staring back at her was a complete set of Kanto badges, which reminded her of a much happier time in her life. A life it turns out, that was destroyed once she knew what kind of man her uncle truly was. She had never felt so betrayed before in her life and the sadness and angry began to show on her face the more she looked at the badges that once brought her such joy. The girl quickly snapped the case closed and shoved the contents back in her bag. She refused to let the memory of what her uncle had done belittle her own accomplishments. Kimi looked down at her Chikorita and smiled.

"Alight! I'm packed and ready to go. Just need to..." Makimi said as she turned to see Chikorita holding her hand in its mouth. It was a black sports cap with multiple colors on the front of the rim. "Ah, my hat, thanks Chikorita. We need to keep moving so it's time for you to go back into your pokéball."

Putting on her hat, while pulling her raspberry colored hair down into a low ponytail, Makimi recalled Chikorita and started down the path to the forest. "If we're lucky, we can loose anyone who might be following us in there."

Traveling until the early afternoon, Makimi finally stopped to eat lunch and to let her Pokémon out to stretch their legs. After a short while she finally recalled them and continued onward, however after some time had passed it dawned on her that she'd gotten turned around. As she turned to go back the way she came, she heard a rustling sound from the bushes directly in front of her. Panicking at the possibility of anything finding her, she ran as fast as she could, only to realize whatever it was that was hiding in the bushes was chasing after her! No matter how far she ran, the sound seemed to get closer. Makimi ran blindly, hoping to lose whatever it was that was on her tail, only to crash into something.

Wincing at the pain in her head, the girl tried to look up at what it was she had crashed into. Her eyes went wide as she realized she hit another young man. Quickly rolling to her feet, Makimi grabbed as many things of hers as she could before running away again.

The young man rubbed his sandy-blond hair as he regained his focus. He looked up just in time to see a raspberry-haired girl running away from where he was. He didn't bother to call out to her since he was more concerned with his own well being. Once he was certain all was well, the young man named Artem lifted himself back to his feet. He was about to continue on his way when he noticed a hat that wasn't his, by his side. He lifted it and examined it...deeming the hat was poorly made but still interesting. Stuffing it into his bag, the sandy-blond haired man walked away, deeper into the forest.

Gasping for breath after what seemed like hours, Makimi finally made it into Azalea Town. She hoped to hide in the town for a short time as long as she could keep a low profile.

It took the frightened girl nearly fifteen minutes to calm down after walking further into Azalea Town when she spotted a friendly looking house with logs and a small trees surrounding it. As she got closer, she realized this was the famed pokéball-smith, Kurt's home. While camping out in the forest, she had gathered several apricorns and wondered if Kurt would make some new pokéballs for her. The young girl took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she approached the door.  
 _  
Calm, I have to be calm. No one has found me yet. I'm still safe. I just had to be careful. Jumping at shadows will do nothing more than make me stick out. I don't need that kind of attention. I can be calm...really, she can._

These thoughts ran through Makimi's mind as walked closer still to the door. Gathering her courage, Makimi raised her hand to knock, before drawing it back a little.

 _What if someone else was there...someone that was still looking for me? I've already been to Azalea Town once before...what if someone knew that and was still here?_

Makimi started to sweat as her mind raced while her eyes darted around. Looking to see if anyone was watching her.

 _I need to keep moving forward...but the Ilex Forest turned me all around! What about that guy I ran into? Did he follow me? It's possible that I lost him, but how could she be sure? I just can't let them find me..._

Makimi nearly jumped out of her skin when noticed the door to Kurt's home open, as a young girl stood in the doorway.

"...Are you here to see Grandpa Kurt?" she asked, slightly shaken.

Makimi nodded as she tried to hide away the panic in her voice, "Yes, is he available?"

"No. He's not here..." The little girl pouted.

"I'm sorry." Makimi said, now with concern as she looked at the girl, "Where did your Grandpa go? Will he be back soon?"

"G-Grandpa went to the Slowpoke Well to check on all the Slowpoke." The girl replied, "But...he hasn't come back yet."

Makimi could see the little girl's eyes being to well up with tears before she spoke up.

"Maybe I could go and see if I can help your Grandpa so he can come back sooner." Makimi offered.

"Really? You will?" At Makimi's nod, the girl squealed and jumped happily. "Thank you! Tell grandpa I'm waiting for him, okay?"

"I will." Makimi smiled and turned to leave, "I'll go right now." she stated, hoping that she wouldn't regret this decision.

"Okay! Bye Miss Trainer! See you when you bring Grandpa back!" The girl called as Makimi started back towards the street.

 _Alright, now all I need to do is head down to Slowpoke Well, get Kurt to come back to his adorable granddaughter and see if he would be willing to make a few of his custom pok_ é _balls to a complete stranger. All the while hoping that my uncle doesn't get wind of where I am. I can totally do this, no problem._

With a loud huff and the certainty that the world was working against her feeble attempts at escaping the shadow of her uncle, the female Pokémon trainer headed toward the well and what waited below.

Robbie, alongside his Totodile exited the Union Cave as the rain poured down on them.

"First all those Zubats and now this!" declared the Pokémon Trainer as his little blue partner simply began to run around in the rain.

"Oh sure, YOU would love this," stated Robbie as he looked ahead. "That must be Azalea Town. I hope they have a Pokémon Center."

Totodile followed his trainer as best he could till the two made it into town. After that, the water-type Pokémon found himself back in his Pokeball, ready to be healed while Robbie took a small rest.

That rest was interrupted by the crying of a little girl, as she made her way to the counter and called for Nurse Joy. Robbie watched as the two spoke.

"Maisy?" questioned Nurse Joy, "Why are you crying like that? And where is your grandfather?"

"H-He went to Slowpoke Well to check on all the Slowpoke." said the young girl, between tears. "He's been gone for awhile."

"Oh, but the Slowpoke are fine. Nothing has happened to them since that incident with Team Rocket some time ago." responded Nurse Joy.

"I know, but Grandpa just loves to look after them..." the little girl named Maisy paused as to stop herself from crying again. "He's usually back already. Another girl...another girl went to check on him but she hasn't come back either."

"Well, perhaps that girl has already found him and is headed back to your house." said Nurse Joy.

"Maybe..."answered Maisy as she wiped away her tears.

"Why don't you simply head back home and wait for them. I'm sure they'll be back soon enough."

"O-Okay, Nurse Joy." said the little girl as she turned around and headed out the door.

At that point, a small bell went off as Nurse Joy looked toward Robbie. "Ah, your Pokémon are finally healed."

Robbie got up and walked to the desk as Nurse Joy pulled a small tray and handed the young trainer his Pokémon back.

"I want to wish you well on your continuing journey." stated Nurse Joy before Robbie finally spoke up.

"Um, excuse me Nurse Joy, maybe I can help. Is this 'Slowpoke Well' the same well at the entrance of the town?"

"Why, yes...but I don't think you should go. If nothing is heard, I'll contact the Gym Leader and they should be able to help." she stated as Robbie looked downcast.

"Yeah, maybe. Thank you, Nurse Joy."

Nurse Joy waved the boy off as he left and walked toward the gym. He suddenly stopped and headed back toward the entrance of the town. He found himself climbing down into the well all the while wondering to himself just what he was doing. Nurse Joy said if anything, she was going to get the Gym Leader if there was any real trouble, but the boy just could not shake this nagging feeling that something had to be done right there and then.

Robbie jumped off the ladder and hit the floor with a slight 'thud'. He pulled out a pokéball and unleashed Totodile who looked at his new surroundings with slight confusion.

"Hey buddy, looks like I decided to play hero. Two people are stuck in here and I need your help finding them."

The big-jawed Pokémon made a fist and nodded in agreement.

"Thanks a lot, buddy." stated Robbie as they looked around the area. From time to time, they were attacked by a few random Pokémon, more Zubat and Slowpoke, the latter of which Robbie was able to capture in a Pokeball.

The two continued searching around the well, before finally squeezing past a large boulder and seeing a flash of raspberry colored hair. There, not too far from him was a girl in a blue jacket, with her hair done in a ponytail. He was about to call out to her when a blast suddenly erupted in front of the girl, sending her to the ground.

"Well, well, well! Look who I ran into!" cried a voice from just above Robbie and the mystery girl.

A Tyranitar appeared, quickly followed by another strange girl. She was older with short dark hair. She wore glasses and a short shirt in purple along matching tights. Over that was a long dark blue jacket and black gloves and heeled boots. She seemed older than the raspberry-haired girl who was making it back to her feet, but what really got Robbie's attention was the fact that an older white-haired man was tied behind the woman with the Tyranitar.

"How are you doing, little cousin? I came here to try and persuade ol' mister Kurt to create very special pokéballs to help our Uncle, but he was just being so stubborn. I was getting so cross with him, when suddenly...I find you. I can't wait to take you both to Uncle Jarlan. He's going to be so happy." stated the girl as her Tyranitar let out a massive roar and glared toward the raspberry-haired girl.

"SO. VERY. HAPPY." she stated again, with hints of cruelty dripping with each word.

Makimi scrambled to get to her feet, while slipping over the dirt and rocks behinds her. She did her best to put as much distance between herself and her cousin.

 _This was bad, so VERY BAD!_ The girl thought to herself. She'd been found and it had to be Julia that found her. The younger twin was vicious in her battling and she would do anything to win to get into Uncle Jarlan's good graces. What's worse, Makimi was certain that her current Pokémon were no where near a match for Julia's favorite Rock/Dark type battler. That Tyranitar was one of Julia's favorites. She'd trained it up from a Lavitar and battled it as hard and as much as she could. There was no winning against it! She was doomed!

"L-Leave me a-alone!" Makimi yelped as she tried to get further away from the Tyranitar as it moved closer to her, "I-I want nothing to do with ANY of you!"

The girl with the short dark hair and glasses laughed as she watched the other girl scramble around on the ground. "Oh…poor lil' Kimi. Of course you're in my way. You were ALWAYS in my way."

As Julia finished her sentence, a sand stream began to fly around the well. Her Tyranitar had unleashed its ability, as Kimi, Robbie and even Kurt tried to cover their eyes.

"S-Stop it!" yelled the raspberry-haired girl as Julia only continued to grin.

"Only if you agree to come back home, little cousin. The family misses you so." Said Julia as her Tyranitar caused a group of rocks to fly toward Kimi. Thankfully, they all missed her…barely.

"Of course, I would actually like for you to put up a fight. It would be so much more fun that way," stated the dark-haired girl with a sinister undertone. "So much fun."

Makimi was beyond scared. She knew what would happen if she went back with Julia…back to Jarlen. She couldn't allow that. Yet, what else could she do in front of so much overwhelming power.

Suddenly, something small and blue caught her attention. It was fast and…had lots of teeth?

During the confusion, Robbie noted that Julia never noticed his or Totodile's presence. He used that to his advantage. He let his Totodile near the girl on the ground while he made his way up to the man he believed to be Kurt. The Tyranitar's Sand Stream actually helped them by providing them with cover, but Robbie could tell that Totodile was not happy about it. Thank Goodness he healed him prior.

Robbie made it up to where Julia, her Tyranitar and Kurt was. As Julia spoke to her cousin, he slowly untied Kurt and motioned for Totodile to get ready.

"So lil' Kimi…what are you going to do?" asked Julia as her fierce Pokémon gave a low growl.

At that, Robbie nodded to Totodile who jumped in front of the raspberry-haired girl and puffed out his chest.

"TOTOOOODILLEEE!" it yelled as he unleashed a powerful bubble attack. It did not do much to the more powerful Rock and Dark type, but it did stun it enough for Robbie to take Kurt out of harms-way.

"What?! WHO DARES?!" cried Julia as she turned and noticed the old man was gone.

"Let's go!" shouted Robbie as the little Totodile began running for his life as he lead the other girl back to the entrance of the well and to safety.

Julia glared at the small group and was about to have her Tyranitar attack them, when the little Totodile fired on a small part of the cave, covering their exit. She then found herself smiling at how strong that little water Pokémon seemed to be, along with its trainer. Her thoughts then returned to her family and her smile transformed into one that was all the more sly.

"This isn't the end for us, lil' Kimi! We now know you're here and we'll find you eventually! I can't wait for our next family reunion!" she cried after them as she turned back to her Tyranitar.

Robbie, Totodile, Kurt and the mystery girl made their way back to the entrance of the well, as fast as they possibly could. Robbie carried the Pokéball craftsman Kurt over his shoulder while in her frenzy, the mystery girl grabbed up Totodile and ran with him in her arms.

"What was that all about?" shouted Robbie to the girl beside him. Totodile also looked up to the girl, but noticed that she was just focused on running for now. Obviously she wanted as much distance between herself and that dark-haired girl and her Tyranitar.

As the group grew closer to the exit, they noticed bright lights and voices coming from ahead of them. Once they emerged, police and bystanders greeted them. Robbie had to shield his eyes when one police officer came over to him and helped old man Kurt onto the ground.

"Thank you." said Robbie as the officer introduced herself.

"Don't thank me yet. My name is Officer Jenny and I have a few questions as to just what happened here."

"Well..." started Robbie when Kurt quickly interrupted him.

"These kids saved me! If it weren't for them, who knows what would have happened to me."

Officer Jenny looked at the pokéball craftsman and then back to the kids. At first they seemed worried about what she was going to say, but that quickly changed once they saw Officer Jenny smile.

"Well, looks like you kids did a great thing. Nobody even knew Kurt was missing until Nurse Joy gave us a call not too long ago."

Robbie and Totodile both puffed out their chests after hearing that.

"Why…thank you! It was all in a day's work."

Kurt smiled at the kids as he placed his arms around Robbie.

"Honestly, you kids were amazing and I can see you have a very strong bond with your Totodile," started Kurt, as Totodile gave a large grin after hearing his name. "How about I do you a favor? Can you stop by my home tomorrow? I'm going to give you a special set of pokéballs. This will be my way to thank you all for helping me."

Robbie and Totodile quickly grabbed both of Kurt's hands to shake them.

"Thank you very much, sir!" stated Robbie.

"Todo!" said Totodile, as both partner and trainer had stars in their eyes at Kurt.

Robbie then looked toward the strange girl and noticed she was starting to get up. He made his way over to her as Officer Jenny offered to take Kurt back home to his granddaughter. The rest of the officers continued to check around the well, looking for anything suspicious.

"Hey…you…lady?" started Robbie as he realized he still didn't know this woman's name. "Um, so…want to talk about what this was all about?"

Makimi stared at him with silent, nearly dead eyes. It was almost as if her entire world had been destroyed.

"Hey, how about this? Let's make our way back to the Poke-Center and rest up. Kurt said he had a surprise for us tomorrow and personally, I can't wait to see what he has in store for both of us."

Robbie gave a small smile which only grew as the raspberry-haired girl nodded in agreement.

"There we go, that's the spirit! We did a great deed and we'll more than likely get some sweet pokéballs out of it. What's not awesome about this?" stated Robbie as Totodile jumped onto his shoulder, cheering along with his trainer as Makimi looked away, defeated.

After around fifteen minutes, the two children sat down in the Poke-Center as Nurse Joy healed Robbie's Pokémon.

"Hey 'Red'," started Robbie as he relished finally having a name to call this girl currently with him, even if he did come up with the name on his own. "So, do you have any Pokémon of your own? I'd love to see them. It's always cool meeting new ones I've never seen before."

The girl only shook her head and looked away from him.

"Oh…kay." said Robbie as he placed his hands behind his head and leaned against his chair. "Maybe we can talk more in the morning. Gotta get a lot of rest if I want to challenge the next Gym Leader!" exclaimed the boy. "Yup…gotta get a lot of…rest…"

The boy's body went limp as he drifted off, as Makimi looked to him, gave a half-smile and drifted off herself…but not for too long.

Robbie awoke to see Nurse Joy standing over him with a very friendly smile.

"Good morning, Trainer." She said as Robbie awoke and fumbled in his chair. Catching himself, he greeted her back.

"Oh, good morning, Nurse Joy. How are my Pokémon?"

"They're fit and ready to continue on their journey with you." She responded as she handed the young boy his pokéballs.

"Oh thank you, Nurse Joy! Now I can finally try and earn my next badge. Isn't that great, Red?"

Robbie looked toward the girl he was sitting near last night last was, only to find a nearly empty space, occupied by a single note that read; 'Sorry'.

Robbie sunk a little into his seat as he wondered where the girl could have possibly gone, as Nurse Joy chimed in.

"Perhaps if you head out now, you can catch up with your friend."

Robbie smiled at that thought. "Maybe," he started. "Either way, I still have a badge to earn."

Robbie unleashed Totodile from his pokéball who began jumping up and down with happiness before leaping onto Robbie's shoulder.

"Thank you for everything, Nurse Joy." said Robbie with a smile.

"No problem and safe travels on your journey." She replied as the young Pokémon trainer continued on his journey to his next Gym battle.

 **End Chapter 1**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 ** _4 YEARS AGO IN SINNOH…_**

While walking into Solaceon Town, the Pokémon Trainer named Joshua Prowler spotted a Shinx race past his feet. It is quickly followed by an Espeon and a girl with short pinkish hair, chasing after the two Pokémon. The pink-haired girl paused beside Joshua, as she tried to regain her composure.

"E-Erik! For Pete' sake…use PSYCHIC!" she said between breathes.

The Espeon seemed to ignore the girl and continues chasing after the Shinx.

"Oh for the love of…Fine! Just do what you want! It's not like we're supposed to be a team or anything." The girl cried out before turning to face Joshua, "I'm sorry you had to see that…but you're a trainer, right?"

Joshua looked toward the girl standing before him. At first he held a slightly confused look on his face but suddenly tried his best to replace it with a friendly smile.

"That's what I am, a trainer-in-training." he responded as his partner Lucario appeared, standing by his side, with an apple in his paw.

"Always with the apples," Joshua stated as the dog-like Pokémon munched happily away on the piece of fruit. "Eh, sorry about that but...can I help you with something?" he asked the pink-haired girl.

"You wouldn't happen to have a flying type on you, would you?" she asked as Joshua frowned slightly.

"Sorry, my main flyer is resting back at the Pokémon-Center right now."

Joshua paused for a moment as Lucario suddenly gave a rather loud sigh. The large blue-dog Pokémon then threw away the apple core of fruit he was eating before looking at both trainers.

"Maybe, Lucario could help you? He's pretty good at most things."

There suddenly came a 'burp' from the furry Pokémon as Joshua made a face. "Not to mention, good at getting himself into trouble..."

The pink-haired girl laughed at the two. "I can tell that you two are really good friends. Plus if that Lucario is fast, then maybe you can help me."

The girl then turned back to point out the Espeon and Shinx running around in the field. "That Shinx keeps running away from me to look for its trainer and my Espeon, Erik constantly has to track it down. The only problem is that my Espeon is rather…slow." Joshua raised an eyebrow at the statement as the girl continued.

"…Erik just does things at his own pace, but the trainer of that Shinx will be back any day now and I don't want my Grandparents Daycare to gain a bad reputation because of me. If only I could get that Shinx to understand…"

Joshua paused, "Wait, just how slow is your Espeon because Shinx aren't really known for their speed. Lucario should be able to catch him, no problem." The boy stated as he grinned to the girl before leaning down and poking his Pokémon partner on the shoulder. "Hey buddy, up to helping a lady in distress?"

Lucario looked to Joshua with a curiosity as Joshua pointed out toward the field. "See that Shinx and Espeon chasing each other? Well, I need you to corner the Shinx and help bring it back this way for this pretty girl here."

Lucario looked at the girl, then to the two Pokémon, and finally back to Joshua before he pointed to his mouth with a low bark. Joshua suddenly jumped to his feet. "You want more food? But you just had an apple!" Lucario pointed again, this time with a slightly more aggressive bark. "Another apple? Are you seriously doing this right now?"

The Aura-Pokémon quickly folded his arms in front of him and shook his head, 'yes'.

"You have got to be kidding." he stated before looking away from his partner. He then sighed and looked back toward Lucario. "Okay, okay! But you only get it if you go after that Shinx, right now."

Lucario smirked and gave a salute to his trainer before running off.

"Thank you." The girl replied, "My name's Marie by the way, but everyone calls me 'Rie." She said as she extended her hand.

"Joshua, Joshua Prowler from Canalave City." Said the boy as he took the girl's hand.

"Oh, so you're a Sinnoh native then."

"Not really. I came to Sinnoh when I was much younger. Originally I'm from Unova."

"Oh, that's cool. I'm from here…but I wouldn't mind going to Johto or even Hoenn to open up my own Pokémon ranch. That's always been my dream. Of course, helping my Grandparents to watch Pokémon is a good first step." Said Marie with a little smile.

"Guess that little Shinx must really love their Trainer. Can't get mad at that." said Joshua.

"Oh! I don't blame the Shinx. I just don't want the trainer to show up and they find out that the Shinx is lost. I just wish Erik wasn't so stubborn sometimes." Rie replied.

Joshua suddenly looked past Marie and called back to his Pokémon, "Lucario, use EXTREME SPEED to circle around him!"

Marie groaned as her Espeon tried to stop the Lucario. "Erik, if you're not going to help, get out of the way!"

Erik replied back in poke-speak and Rie frowned.

"This is NOT a race! Either help bring the Shinx back or I won't let you have any berries for a month!"

Joshua laughed toward the girl as she finished yelling toward her Pokémon. "Guess we have the same problem with our Pokémon being a little stubborn, huh?"

However, while Joshua was laughing, Lucario paused and looked back toward the Espeon, barking at him that he had this. He sped through the grass and bounced between the trees, once...twice and finally a third time before landing right in front of the Shinx. It seemed to back away in fear as the Espeon moved in behind it.

"Looks like they got it, let's go pick the little guy up." stated Joshua as he moved over toward the three Pokémon.

"Thank you." Rie said as she hurried over to the group. "Erik, I should ground you."

Kneeling down so she could look at the Shinx better, "Your trainer is coming tomorrow. He'd be very sad if you went and got lost before he could come back for you."

"Shi, Shinx hinx."

"I know you're sorry. Just wait it out another day and then you'll be on your way again." Rie replied to the Shinx.

"He might be here even sooner than you think." Came a voice as both Joshua and Marie, along with the three Pokémon turned to face a young man coming toward them.

The little Shinx suddenly cried out happily as it ran toward a young man with blonde hair, wearing a white jacket with red stripes running down the arms of his sleeves. He wore a pair of black jeans and sneakers that matched his jacket. His backpack was mostly black with a single white stripe running down the side with the Pokémon symbol inside of it.

The boy hugged the little Shinx. "Sorry I took so long, little buddy. Hope you can forgive me." he asked as the small blue Pokémon simply let out a series of happy cries while nuzzling against him.

"Welcome back Witt," said Marie as she smiled toward the boy, now reunited with his Pokémon partner. "Shinx really missed you."

"I see that," replied Witt. "I have a good explanation for that."

The blonde boy then reached into his bag and pulled out a strange looking orange tile that had even stranger engravings on it.

"What is that?" chimed Joshua, which grabbed Witt's attention.

"Oh, sorry...I never introduced myself. Name's Witt Rysher. Pokémon Trainer and all around awesome guy." he said proudly.

Joshua stared at Witt for a moment and then looked toward Marie.

"It's alright, he introduced himself to me the same way when he left his Shinx here." she joked. Joshua nodded and turned back to Witt.

"Well, my name is Joshua. Joshua Prowler and I'm also a Pokémon trainer. I was actually helping Marie here with your Shinx a moment ago."

"Thanks for that, man. Shinx can be a handful sometimes." stated Witt as Joshua brought attention back to the tile in the other boy's hand.

"So...just what IS that anyway?" he asked again.

Witt suddenly formed a small smile across his face before he answered with "Power". The blonde boy then pulled out his pokeball and unleashed his Hitmonchan.

The fighting type let the energy finish swirling around him before he started throwing out a series of quick jabs to show off his abilities. He then stopped and struck a pose as Witt began to praise him.

"My Hitmonchan already had the power to taken down nearly any opponent, but since finding this plate, his power sky-rocketed!" declared Witt as Joshua's Lucario seemed to take notice of that final statement.

"I randomly found it while on my journey. I'm not totally sure what it is, even after I took a good look at what was engraved on the back. Something about...'the universe creating shards'."

"That's interesting." chimed Marie, as Shinx nodded his approval.

"However, once I gave it to Hitmonchan here, we haven't lost a single battle!"

Witt's Hitmonchan stood proudly once again when Lucario walked over to it and stared at him, hard. Hitmonchan stepped back a bit in surprise at what seemed like a challenge from his fellow fighting-type. Stepping forward, Hitmonchan stared back at Lucario with the same intensity.

"So, you haven't been beaten?" asked Joshua.

"We're currently nineteen and zero." declared Witt, wondering where Joshua was going with this. Marie looked at the two trainers, wondering just what was going through their minds.

"Cool, Lucario and I love facing off against strong opponents." stated Joshua as he moved beside Lucario. "How about a quick one-on-one battle?"

"Really? I don't think you'd wanna mess with my Hitmonchan. Not for nothing but with the power of that plate..." started Witt as he looked Joshua dead in the eyes. "We'd wipe the floor with you two."

"...Wanna make a bet then?" asked Joshua with a slight grin.

"...I'm listening." came Witt's reply.

"If you really believe that it's that plate that's giving your Hitmonchan true power, than you wouldn't mind waging it on a simple battle. Your Hitmonchan versus my buddy Lucario. Winner gets the tile."

Witt looked over his opponents Lucario. "That plate is absolute power, right? What's there to lose?"

Witt then looked over at his Hitmonchan, who nodded in agreement, as well as to his Shinx who seemed to believe in his human partner. Witt then looked toward Marie. She simply shrugged.

"Hey, this is on you two. Just don't mess up my Grandparent's daycare center." she joked as both trainers suddenly fell over.

The two quickly picked themselves up as the blonde haired boy agreed to Joshua's challenge. "Alright buddy, you got yourself a deal...but don't say we didn't warn you."

Joshua looked at Witt as he rubbed underneath his nose with all the confidence of a champion.

"You really think you stand a chance against my Hitmonchan?" asked the younger boy as both Joshua and Lucario shrugged.

"Heh, you must not know the power my Pokémon have." said Witt as Joshua continued to look at the other trainer.

"CALM MIND." stated Joshua as Lucario slowly closed his eyes and concentrated.

"Don't underestimate me! Hitmonchan, use CLOSE COMBAT!" yelled Witt as his Hitmonchan leaped forward and yelled as it attacked Lucario with all the power it could muster.

The hit landed with what seemed like an explosion as both Lucario and Hitmonchan slid across the field. The Aura-Pokemon finally opened his eyes to reveal that he had stopped the brunt of the attack by blocking with his arms crossed in front of him.

"POWER-UP PUNCH." stated Joshua as a slight grin appeared on the face of the boy's Pokémon partner. Both Witt and Hitmonchan allowed a small bead of sweat to appear on their foreheads.

A fur-covered fist glowed and connected with the face of his opponent, sending it flying back toward it's trainer.

"Whoa, whoa!" started Witt when his Pokemon crashed into him, causing both boy and Pokémon to roll across the ground, finally coming to a stop a few feet away from where Hitmonchan was initially hit.

Joshua, Lucario and Marie ran over to the pair to make sure they were alright.

"Ow." groaned Witt as Joshua and Marie helped him and his Hitmonchan back to their feet. "Wow, your Lucario sure can pack a punch!" said Witt as he continued to groan.

"Yeah, guess we really don't know our own strength." started Joshua, "but we didn't need an item to give us power. We achieved this power all on our own...by training together and standing by each other's side."

Witt looked at Jousha and Lucario and sighed. "I see what you mean."

He had Hitmonchan hand back the orange plate and was about to hand it to Joshua, when he suddenly paused. "I know a deal is a deal but..."

Joshua looked at the blonde trainer in confusion before the latter and his Hitmonchan suddenly dropped to his knees and pressed his hands together in front of his face.

"PLEASE, PLEASE TRAIN US!" begged Witt as his Pokemon joined in. "Chan! Chan!"

Joshua reluctantly agreed as he helped Witt back to his feet.

"Thank you!" cried Witt as he looked to Hitmonchan. "Hear that, now we'll know what real power is!"

The two continued to cheer while Marie, Joshua and Lucario walked away for a bit. The boy then handed Lucario the strange orange plate as energy gathered all around him. Joshua could feel the surge swell from deep within the plate and into his partner.

"Whoa..." was all he was able to say when Lucario smiled and looked back at him, gripping the plate in his hands.

Joshua then wondered if his brother knew about these plates and how powerful they were.

"Perhaps he's looking for them himself?" Joshua questioned when Marie suddenly slapped the back of his head.

"Ow!" winced the boy as he looked back at the girl who just hit him.

"I honestly hope you weren't planning on leaving before cleaning up this place. Look at the mess you all made!" stated Marie as she Joshua and Lucario bowed to her in apology.

Witt, Hitmonchan and Shinx all looked on with slightly worried faces.

"If we need more power...maybe we should train with her." stated Witt as both Hitmonchan and Shinx agreed.

"Chan..."

"Shinx..." 

**_PRESENT TIME IN AZALEA TOWN_**

Robbie could hardly contain his excitement as Kurt the Pokeball smith had just declared that he had successfully completed a set of Pokeballs, just for the young trainer.

"I don't know what to say other than thank you!" said Robbie as Kurt smiled back to him.

"It's the very least I could do since you and that other girl saved my life." stated the older man, when he suddenly began to look around the room.

"Odd, where is the lady you were with?" he asked.

Robbie paused before simply stating: "...I don't know. Guess she had things to do."

"Well, that is a shame. And my little Maizie wanted to thank her too."

Robbie looked at the little girl who warned both him and the red-haired girl about the danger her Grandfather was in. He grinned to her as she smiled back.

"So, Robbie...using a few different apricorns I had, I was able to create these…my specially designed Pokeballs."started Kurt, "Let me tell you about what makes these Pokeballs unique."

The Pokeball Smith placed each ball on the table.

"The red apricorn is used to create a Level Ball. The Level Ball works on Pokemon whose level is lower than your own. The higher level your own Pokémon are, the better these Pokeballs will work in the wild. Next, the yellow apricorn is used to make a Moon Ball. With a Moon Ball, you can easily catch Pokémon who evolve using a Moon Stone. The Blu Apricorn helps to make a Lure Ball. Just like its name suggests, it's easier to catch Pokémon while fishing. The green apricorn equals the Friend Ball. Catch any Pokémon with it and they are instantly your friend. The pink apricorn is used to make a Love Ball. Depending on the species and gender of your Pokémon team, you can catch any Pokémon of the same species but of a different gender with maximum efficacy! The white apricorn equals the Fast Ball. Use it on any speedy Pokémon and you should have no problems catching them. Finally, we have the black apricorn which equals the Heavy Ball. This pokeball allows you to catch the biggest and heaviest Pokemon, no problem! Think you got all that?"

Robbie wrote down in his notepad as much as he could remember from Kurt as the older man shook his head.

"Just remember the names of each Pokeball and you should be alright." he said as Maizie suddenly chimed in.

"That's right, it'll be alright!" she said in her cutest voice.

Both the little girl and Robbie laughed at that. Kurt chuckled and patted his Granddaughter's head.

"Well then young man, where are you off to next?"

Robbie wastes no time in answering, "I'm planning on challenging the Azalea Gym for a Hive Badge. I heard that the Gym Leader Bugsy is actually a lot tougher than he seems. I wanna know just how tough."

Kurt grinned. "You sure have a lot of spunk, but it's always good to have a plan when facing a Gym Leader. They're no pushovers."

Robbie nodded, along with Maizie as Kurt continued.

"Since Bugsy uses Bug-Type Pokemon, your best best is to take him on with Flying and Fire-Types. If you do that, you should do just fine."

"Thanks Kurt, once again!" said Robbie as he jumped to his feet to shake the older man's hand. "I'll train up my Pokémon a bit before challenging Bugsy. Like you said, 'best to have a plan'." and with that, Robbie starts to head off.

As Robbie began to load his new Pokeballs into his backpack, one of them slipped out of his hand and rolled onto the ground. It came to a stop near a stepstool and just as the trainer reached out to grab it, the stepstool suddenly came to life!

There was an eerie pause in the room when all three people began to scream in panic when the stepstool itself started to scream too!

It quickly took off, out of Kurt's home with the ball on top of it. Robbie gives chase as both Kurt and Maizie wonder just what happened, exactly.

The living step-stool continues to run, straight through Route 32 and all the way back to Union Cave.

Robbie stops just outside to catch his breath when he suddenly realized where he was.

"Oh man, not again…" stated Robbie before straightening his bandanna and running back inside the cave.

 ** _  
_** **Ilex Forest**

Cries of someone under attack could be heard throughout the forest, followed by explosions from an intense Pokémon battle.

A girl, dressed in nearly all white was sent flying through the air by an incredibly intense shock wave. Her name, Cassandra and she cried out as the blast of energy caused her to nearly collide with a tree. Luckily, a Beartic jumped in between her and said tree, in order to save her.

"Thank you..." she said weakly while clutching her bloodied arm before both her and the Beartic looked back at her assailant. "W-Who are you?"

"What does it matter 'who' I am, since you already know just what it is that I want?" he answered.

Julian Cyrill appeared surrounded by his team of Fairy-Type Pokémon; Granbull, Florges, Gardevoir and Mawile. The boy was dressed in a deep blue, long coat with the interior showing off a rich pink. He wore matching red finger-less gloves with black steel-toed boots. He adjusted his dark oval glasses, as his long black hair with a single pink bang crested over his face.

"And what I want...girl...is the Azure Flute." he said in a very calming voice as all four of his Pokémon, readied an attack.

In another part of the forest, the sun's slow ascension helped Makimi find a path in the Ilex forest, not that it seemed to truly help her. Everything looked the same to her and trying to find a way through the forest was starting to drive her a bit crazy. It was bad enough that she had actually released her Chikorita so that she wouldn't be alone.

"I'm starting to wonder if I should let Paige out, so she can help us find a way through the forest," Makimi said to her Pokémon.

"Chiiikaaa." The Chikorita replied while shaking its head.

"No? I suppose she would be vulnerable, and if she was followed, we'd be easily found." Makimi sighed as she leaned against a tree. "Maybe being lost for a while will be a good thing. But at the same time, we can't stay here for long. The twins would find us. The last thing I want to do is try to fight them. If I lose..."

Makimi shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. The mere thought of what her Uncle or her twin cousins would do if they caught up with her; terrified her to no end. Her Uncle was the head of an organization that she could never support an organization that would experiment on pokemon, make them so radically different. Make them so... feral.

"I could never support it," Makimi whispered to herself.

"Chii ka," Chikorita said as she rubbed her head against Makimi to try and comfort the girl.

"Did I tell you about the Snubbull I used to have as a pet?" Makimi asked as she sat down.

Chikorita shook its head, then leaned against Makimi to listen.

"It was a grumpy little thing sometimes. But if you caught it at just the right time, or gave it just the right berry, it would smile." Makimi smiled and pet the grass type's head, "I was so lucky I figured out what berries it liked right away. I always had some on me. I just loved to see Snubbull smile. It would always dance around, and then follow me for an hour doing all sorts of funny things. It even danced on the coffee table once."

With a sigh, Makimi pulled Chikorita closer. "One day I came back from school and Snubbull was gone. My Uncle told me that he has escaped and run off. I was heartbroken. I loved that silly fairy. I heard my cousins talking about it later. Turns out my cousin's Granbull is that little Snubbull."

Makimi paused to try and get her tearing eyes to stop. She couldn't cry now. It couldn't save her little Snubbull now. "I... I think Snubbull was experimented on. Even as a Granbull... there's no way he should be as aggressive as I've seen him. I.. I think my Uncle did something and made Snubbull really aggressive, and I don't know why."

"Chiiiii kaaaaaaa," Chikorita replied mournfully while trying to comfort Makimi more.

"it's just not fair," Makimi said, "That Snubbull was my friend... now I'm sure it wouldn't' recognize me."

After a few minutes of cuddling, Makimi sighed and stood back up, dusting the dirt off her jeans. " Ok... let's get going. The more distance between us and Azalea Town the better. With any luck, the twins won't be able to find me again."

"Chika!" The small grass Pokémon agreed as he stood beside her trainer.

With a nod, Makimi set off again to find a way through the forest while remembering the fun she used to have with her Snubull

The forest was disorientating. The shadows and sounds kept getting Makimi turned around and lost. With a sigh the girl turned in a new direction.

"Maybe we'll find the exit again and we can figure out way through without getting so lost."

"ChikAaa." Chikorita agreed as she walked beside Makimi.

"Maybe I shouldn't have left the Pokemon center... but Julia saw me. It wouldn't have been safe for me to stay." Makimi sighed. "I used to have a normal life."

"Chii kaaa. " Chikorita added as she rubbed her head on the side of Makimi's leg.

"I'm being mopey again, aren't I?" Makimi chuckled softly, then stopped as she heard an explosion. "Someone's in trouble... Come on, let's go see if we can help."

"CHiiika!" the plant Pokémon agreed as she started to run beside Makimi.

They ran in the direction the explosion had come from and soon came to the edge of the forest. Makimi stopped just inside the forest as she recognized the Pokémon. How could this be her luck. First Julia, and now Julian?

"Butterfree, Machop." Makimi called out her Pokémon. "Butterfree, try to get Julian's Pokémon with poison powder, but try not to get caught. I don't want you getting hurt. Machop, I want you and Chikorita to help that girl out... Julian... Julian... we can't let him do whatever he wants. But wait until Butterfree's put out the poison powder, then hopefully we can use the poison weakness against them and can get the girl out without Julian knowing I'm here."

 ** _ROUTE 33_**

Robbie ran alongside his Totodile as they entered Union Cave once again, all in search of a living step-stool that took one of his new Friendship balls that Kurt made for him.

"Ugh, these Zubat are everywhere!" stated Robbie as a group of small flying Pokémon blocked his path. "Totodile, use WATER GUN!" commanded the young trainer, as the water-type did jut that, spraying the Zubat and making the two a path.

Just ahead of them, the living step-stool continued to hop away at top speed while wrapping one of its legs around the Pokeball. A few more Zubat flew overhead as the step-stool suddenly started to glow and change…into a Zubat itself!

"What in the…?" trailed Robbie as both he and Totodile stared in amazement. Finally, the young trainer came back to his senses and ordered Totodile to fire off another water-gun attack.

The water-type Pokemon let out multiple attacks, each one missing as it tried to take aim at the flying target. Finally, a stream of water hit the Pokeball the 'Zubat' was carrying, causing it to fall to the ground. Robbie and Totodile quickly ran over and secured the Friendship ball.

"Ha! Got it!" cried Robbie as his Totodile winked at him. Suddenly the 'Zubat' the two were chasing, flew head-first into Totodile's stomach, causing it to crash into a random Geodude that was simply sleeping.

"Geo?! Dude!" yelled the rock-type as it hit Totodile causing the water-type to let out a yelp.

"Totodile!"

Robbie looked back at the Zubat and noticed it seemed to be...laughing?

"You think that's funny, huh? Let's see how you like this! Go, Spearow!"

The young trainer sent out his second Pokemon, and with a strong yell, Spearow declared his appearance.

"Use, LEER!" commanded Robbie as the flying type stared down the questionable Zubat.

As it did so, the Zubat began to glow again and before their eyes, it changed into another Spearow and used LEER back at it attacker!

"What is going on here?" cried Robbie as Totodile came running back toward his side, as the Geodude came chasing after him.

"Hmm...okay then. WATER GUN!" was all the young trainer said at this sight.

Totodile sprayed the rock type with his Water Gun attack and sent it flying into the second Spearow.

Robbie noticed that the Geodude was dazed and quickly tossed a Pokeball toward it, catching the rock-type.

"Gotcha!" cheered Robbie as he turned his attention back toward the 'Spearow'. His Spearow and Totodile surrounded the strange Pokemon as Robbie gives them instructions.

"Spearow, use GUST! Totodile, WATER GUN!" yelled Robbie as the mix of wind and water disorientated the Pokemon.

"Now Spearow, use PECK!"

The flying type's beak hit the other Spearow hard, causing it to knock against the side of the cave's wall. As Robbie and his two Pokemon walked up to it, the 'Spearow' glowed again and changed into a small pink slime creature.

Robbie smacked his hand against his head as he realized just what he was looking at.

"Ditto. Of course it's a Ditto."

Suddenly, he blinked and looked at the Ditto again.

"Wait...why is a Ditto out here?"

Both of Robbie's Pokemon looked at him, just as confused as their trainer was.

"Well," started Robbie as he knelled down and grinned to the Ditto that caused him so much trouble. He pulled out the Friendship Pokeball and held it out for the Ditto to see. "Since you liked this Pokeball so much, would you like to stay in it? You could travel around with me. What do you say?"

Ditto looked at the Pokeball, then to Totodile and Spearow who seemed to smile back to it just as much as Robbie was. With a small cheer, the pink Pokemon reached out and touched the Pokeball. A wave of energy engulfed it as the Pokeball clicked close. After three quick shakes, a small light went off indicating that Robbie was now the caretaker of a brand new Ditto.

"Alright!" cried out Robbie as his Totodile and Spearow celebrated alongside with him.

Suddenly, the trio was greeted to the sounds of multiple Zubat screeching due to all the noise they made. Robbie looked back to see a horde of Zubat flying toward them at top speed.

"As if we we weren't making a lot of noise before!" yelled Robbie while his Totodile laughed as the young trainer ran out of Union Cave with his two teammates in tow. ****

 **Ilex Forest  
**

Cassandra yelled out to her two Pokemon, Beartic and Froslass as Julian continued his assault. A MOONBLAST from his Granbull sent both of Cassandra's partners to the ground before fainting upon impact. Julian petted his Pokemon on the head, before he stalked toward his prey.

Through gritted teeth, Cassandra pulled out her Pokeballs to recall her Pokemon. She winced as the blood continued to drip down her broken arm, before she slowly moved to get closer to a small box she was holding before being attacked.

Julian looked at the box, nothing there was a strange golden symbol on top of it. He then looked back to her.

"You know, you could make this so much easier on yourself if you would just give up the flute." he said as the girl glared into his eyes.

"I am of the Foundation, and it is my duty to protect this flute...even at the cost of my own life."

The two continued to look at each, her icy blue eyes burning into his own brown eyes. Julian finally closed his and sighed.

"With you own life, you say..." Julian qas he beckoned for his Pokemon to move forward. "Let's test that, shall we." he stated as his eyes grew dark. He motioned for his Pokemon to finish the girl off, as there came a collective groan from his team.

Julian whipped his head around and noticed how his Pokemon wobbled about as though there was something wrong. Suddenly he noticed a faint hint of something in the wind, and grew slightly sick.

"Is that...poison...powder?!" he tired to yell before bringing his sleeve to his nose and mouth, to avoid breathing in anymore of the poison. He looked to the side and noticed that his Mawile was unaffected due to it being both Fairy and Steel.

"Perfect..." said Julian as he turned back to Cassandra. "Mawile, use FAIRY WIND!"

The attack headed toward the girl as she turned away, ready to take the hit. She then noticed that nothing happened as a red-haired girl alongside her Machop got her out of the way.

Julian is clearly shown to be angered at this until he took a closer look at the red-haired girl. A grin appeared across his face as he eventually noticed his cousin and began to mock her.

"Oh Kim, poor poor deluded…naïve…STUPID…little Kimi. All this time and you were hiding right under our noses!"started Julian as Cassandra looked at the girl in surprise.

 _The girl who saved me...is this monster's cousin?!_ she thought as Julian continued.

"Scared that your big bad cousins were going to hunt you down…and eat…you…up." He stated with a sick look on his face.

"You want to know the real kicker to all of this? What makes this all the funnier for me?"

Clearly a look of concern came across Kimi's face before Julian went on.

"We never even cared that you were gone."

Kimi's eyes went wide at that statement.

"That's right, this whole time you were worried about us, we really could have cared less about you. We were all too busy dealing with our own plans."

As Julian gloated, Cassandra used the opportunity to summon another of her Pokemon, her Cloyster.

"Quick, use SURF!" yelled Cassanadra.

A huge surge of water enter the Ilex Forest hitting Julian and his Mawile, dragging them away, as Kimi recalled her Pokemon and ran away with Cassandra to her side.

As the two made certain they were far enough away and were able to catch their breath, Cassandra finally looked toward her savior.

"I want to thank you," started the white haired girl before she glared toward Kimi. "However, you and that boy are connected."

Suddenly, Cassandra pushed Kimi to the side and called out for her Beartic.

"Give me one good reason I should trust you..." said Cassandra as the girl stared at the red-haired girl while her ice type Pokemon loomed over her.

Taking a step away from the girl, Kimi's eyes widened, pupils dilating in fear. "I... I... i'm not with him!" Her soft voice pitching upwards on the last word. "I... i ran away from that."

A flash of light and Kimi's Chikorita was standing between her trainer and Cassandra, readying herself to protect her trainer. "CHIiiI KAaa!"

"No, Chikorita," Kimi said as she moved to stop her pokemon. "She's just trying to protect herself. She's not threatening me."  
With a sigh, the girl hefts the grass type up adding softly, "She's not like my family."

 **AZALEA TOWN  
**  
Robbie stared down into his journal as he wrote out all that has happened to him, since beginning his journey throughout the Johto region. He underlined the words "Ditto" then added a question mark next to it as Nurse joy walked up to him, holding out a tray with his Pokeballs on it.

"Here you go, trainer. Your team is fully healed and ready to head out…" stated the pink haired girl, with a smile. "I hope that you continue to use our services if you need them."

Robbie could not help himself and smiled back, as he reached out and looked over his Pokeballs. When he was satisfied, he thanked the nurse and was out the door. Once outside he let Totodile out of his ball and grinned to his partner water-type.

"Alright, time to get ourselves a Hive badge!" declared Robbie as the two of them made their way into the Azalea Town Gym.

The two opened the large doors of the gym and entered. The room was dark as the two ventured further in, when they then heard the doors close behind them. As they arrived in the center of the room, the lights suddenly came on. Both Robbie and Totodile had to shield their eyes as a brown haired gentleman with a rather curly mustache stepped out from behind a pillar to greet the two.

"Welcome young trainer, to the Azalea Gym!" he declared as he looked over both Robbie and his Pokémon. "A water-type trainer, eh? Well…here at this gym, the leader uses bug-type Pokémon. You'd best be on your guard."

Robbie raised a slightly concerned eye-brow at that statement as the man with the curly mustache continued.

"Bug-types have a nasty habit of hiding in plain sight. Lurking in dark corners…waiting for the perfect opportunity…to strike!" cried the man as he tried to shock Robbie only for his Totodile to freak out before hitting the man, full-force with a water-gun attack to the face.

The man slowly got back to his feet as Robbie tried to apologize.

"I'm sorry sir, but my Totodile is easily excited. You took him off-guard and…well…" Robbie trailed off as the brown haired man simply wiped himself off with a napkin he happened to have on him. Grinning, the man continued. "Well, at least your Totodile is spirited. Though, to fight against bug-types, you're better off using flying or fire types. Still, I wish you luck trainer! Proceed into the next room!"

The man cleared out of Robbie's path and revealed another door behind him. Robbie and Totodile walked through as cobwebs surrounded them, along with the constant sound of clicking and buzzing. Ahead of them, they saw a person, dressed in green with a netted helmet over their head.

"Uh, hello! We're looking for the gym leader!" declared Robbie as the person in green looked toward them.

"Oh, guess that would be me!" stated the person, as they began to remove their helmet. A rather feminine, lavender-haired man looked to Robbie with a smile. "I'm Bugsy and I love Bug-type Pokémon."

Robbie nodded. "I...can see that."

"Heh. I really get into my research. I guess you could say that I'm the leading authority on Bug-types."

Suddenly, Bugsy's smile turned into a smirk, as the gym leader produced a Pokeball. "Allow me yo demonstrate all that I have learned over the years!"

Bugsy threw the ball into the air, as out popped his first Pokemon, a Beedrill.

Robbie looked toward his Totodile who stared back up toward him, itching for a fight.

"Sorry, buddy...but I'm going to hold you in reserve." said Robbie. His Totodile sulked for half a second before perking back up again as Robbie pulled out his first Pokeball.

"Go, Spearow!"

Robbie's Spearow stood tall and eyed Bugsy's Beedrill as Robbie yelled out to it.

"Use GUST!" cried the trainer, as wind hit the Gym Leader's Pokemon hard.

"POISON STING." stated Bugsy, as Robbie's Spearow winced from the sudden pain, as one of Beedrill's stingers clipped it's wing.

"Spearow, use PECK!" stated Robbie, while Bugsy counter with a TWINEEDLE attack.

The two fliers traded blows before finally, Beedrill fell to the ground, defeated.

"Beedrill, return." said the gym leader as he looked to his recalled Pokemon and thanked it.

Robbie grinned as figured that with his Spearow being a flying-type, he had this win in the bag.

The gym leader noticed the look on his opponents face and allowed his own smirk to form, before releasing his second Pokemon.

"Go...Scyther!"

A large, green monster of a bug-type landed on the battlefield with blades for arms. Despite the intimating appearance, Robbie's Spearow stood tall...until is suddenly fell over and fainted.

"Spearow!" yelled Robbie as he ran over to it out of concern.

"It finally succumbed to the poison. It took longer than I thought. That is a very strong Spearow that you have." stated the lavander-haired man as Robbie returned Spearow to his Pokeball. The young trainer than called out one of his newest teammates, Geodude.

The Rock-type used HARDEN and withstood multiple CUTS and FURY CUTTER attacks from Bugsy's Scyther. Eventually, they wore each other out and fainted at the same time.

Robbie began sweating as he looked over the last Pokeball in his hand while the gym leader simply readied himself.

"Even though it's my last Pokémon, it's also my strongest!" Bugsy tossed the pokeball into the air. "Go, Scizor!"

A bright red Pokemon stood strong as Robbie sent out his next Pokemon.

"Go, Ditto!"

Bugsy was stunned to see the pink blob appear before him. "A Ditto?" he questioned, before Robbie followed up by yelling; "Transform!"

Suddenly, there stood two Scizor's on the battleground.

They matched each other, blow for blow, neither one wanting to give an inch.

"Hang in there! Just a little more!" cried Bugsy, the gym leader as his Scizor delivered a BULLET PUNCH to its opponent.

"You can do it, Ditto!" yelled Robbie as his Pokemon returned the attack.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, only one Scizor remained.

The last one on the field slowly began to glow as it changed back into a pink smiling mass. Robbie walked up to it and petted it on what he believed to be its head.

"Thank you, Ditto! You did an amazing job!" said the boy.

"Ditto!" cheered the pink Pokemon before returning to its Pokeball.

"Aw, that's the end of it..." sighed Bugsy as he recalled his Pokemon back into it's ball. He then walked up toward Robbie and shook his hand.

"Whoa, that was an amazing battle! You are really tough, but I hope you learned just how tough bug-types can be as well." stated Bugsy, as he pulled out a small metal object from his pocket. "I don't think I will ever stop with my research and trying to better myself, but for right now, you win. Take this Badge."

Robbie took the Hive Badge into his hands and grinned incredibly hard.

"Alright, the Hive Badge is mine!" declared Robbie as he held the badge high in the air while his Totodile danced around him.

The young trainer then paused as he looked to Bugsy who continued to smile toward the boy.

"Eh..." started Robbie and he slowly took down his arm. "Sorry."

"Hehe, it's quite alright. By the way, I want you to take this as a gift…" said the lavender haired man, as he handed Robbie a disc.

The trainer looked at the disc in slight confusion before Bugsy continued. "It's the move U-Turn. It lets your Pokémon attack, then switch with the next Pokémon in your party. Isn't that great?"

Bugsy smiled again, as Robbie and Totodile both nodded in agreement.

"Bug-type Pokémon are deep. There are many mysteries to explore in this world, don't you think?" asked the gym leader as a group of Kakuna came down from the ceiling and surrounded both Robbie and Totodile.

The two screamed the entire way out of the gym, all the while Robbie thanked Bugsy for the badge as they continued on their journey.

 **ELSEWHERE**

"Welcome to Goldenrod City!" cried the conductor as the Magnet train came to a stop. Multiple people got off as one gentleman in particular took in the sights of the city as a large, blue dog-like Pokemon stood by his side.

"So, Lucario," started the young man, "what do you think of Johto?"

Lucario huffed for a second, then grinned.

"Yeah, I like it too..."

The young man had mocha colored skin and wore a red short-sleeved patterned shirt along with black jeans and red over white sneakers. He adjusted his brown knapsack before pulling out a black baseball cap with a red Pokeball symbol over it. He then grinned to Lucario.

"Still...it's no Sinnoh." he stated before the two headed out into this new region.

 ** _  
End Chapter 2_**


End file.
